the moon and why some days are just NOT as good as others…

So I will let you all in on a little secret; if I am planning

to make a purchase that is major I will always check to see if it is a fortuitous day for such activities, or not.  I check with Georgia Nichols

Here’s her”moon alert” for today..

“We have the “all clear” today to shop (whether you spend $10 or $10 million) and make important decisions (except for one hour, from 1:15 PM until 2:15 PM EDT today). The Moon moves from Leo into Virgo at 2:13 PM EDT today; and the New Moon is at 11:04 p.m. EDT.”

Now I am sure this seems totally crackers, but think back;

Have you ever been out , making a purchase, even just shopping for groceries, and somehow your mind couldn’t concentrate? It was more than just having daily worries or distractions, it was more like you could not DECIDE about the simplest choice;

chicken or fish,

which type of coffee, what cereal, and on and on…

OR you were perhaps doing something major, like  renting a suite and having prospective tenants come to view the place. You had perhaps three or four people come to view one afternoon, and somehow could NOT decide which one seemed ideal.

THAT is all because of the moon’s phase that day. It was simply NOT an ideal day.

Sometimes, obviously  you have to struggle through, as it’s not practical to abandon ones’ grocery cart and slink back home to hide under the bed until a better day.

But for the BIG stuff, it might be better to reschedule…

facebook and where to draw the line

I have heard that there will be an attack on facebook by some evil hackers who obviously have no friends so are jealous or else are those boring spotty types still living in their parents basement suites and wanting attention from normal people.

Its a bit sad to think that some people obviously have nothing better to do than disturb others(it’s really like nursery school; no one will play with them so they crash into the  plasticine  table, wrecking everyone else’s fun)

It doesn’t bother me as I really am not, “into” ,facebook. I don’t poke people (anymore) and seldom play any of those creepy and addictive games (except lexulous)  and often wonder why I am there. I have tried to engage my friends but obviously they are busy with their families, and summer events so many of my posts go largely unnoticed.

I am not friends with my boss or any one like that but I did offer to befriend my brother  (who has not responded, not that I am surprised, as I don’t think he is really ‘into” facebook either.) I do hear the horror stories of people posting things when they are supposedly sick like, “beautiful day at the beach”  then they realize that quite a few of their “friends” are fellow workmates who will probably tell the boss,  and so it snowballs from the there…

So what do you think; are you “into” facebook  or could you do without, and still lead a happy life?

Using iPad and word press

Word press has just updated it’s app for use with the iPad ; it’s about time!
So now it seems better and more stable and I am definitely loving being able to blog quickly with few intermediate steps.

As I am not able to utilize a computer the iPad is the next best thing; it’s compact,light and for it’s size, amazing in it’s ability to do so many things. Internet use is basically the same, as is email, and one can enjoy ones music throughout.

My only two regrets are, one cannot “multitask”; it is impossible to have the browser open and then say,check emails…
The other is, one cannot view a lot of things or play games ( the regular way) as there is no support for flash programs, and apparently this remains true for the newer iPad version.

The great thing about it though is there is basically no way for one to get a virus, as there are no files or otherwise no computer like processes, so the would be hacker is at a loss…
Hooray!

Shopping in the USA

We love going to Hawaii; have been so many times that it feels like our home away from home.

One of the minor reasons that I love going is for the shopping(!)

Oahu(the island upon which Honolulu, the capital city of Hawaii is located) has lots of good places to shop; Ala Moana being the biggest and finest.

But it is because Hawaii is part of the US which makes the shopping so great. There are so many stores and items in Hawaii (and the US for that matter) that respectively either don’t exist or else one simply cannot get in Canada.

I have NEVER understood marketing, and have a sneaking suspicion that it is is based on ill advised , stuffy “old men in suits” opinions.

As a consumer, I can say that IF the stuff is provided, people will buy it, simple as that.

It works the other way too; many things here in Canada are unavailable in the USA. I KNOW how frustrating THAT is for many of my US pals.

I remember being in a discussion group for Brtish Comedies and the topic of conversation turned to  British food items and how they WERE available here in Canada but not in the US. People were BEGGING the few Canadians (as it was a predominately US audience) to mail them certain covetted items.

I don’t know how well this worked for each party but it was rather sad to think that a person couldn’t just trot to their corner market and find what they wanted there.

Sure these days, many things in the world are available online BUT MANY sites will NOT ship to Canada. (and probably not to other countries either.)

Unfair?

You bet!

Winter Olympics 2010;yes it’s great but don’t get me started on my real opinion…….

The Olympics are beginnning tomorrow in the fair city of Vancouver.

While it is an honour to have the games here on the west coast of Canada, there is as MUCH dissent and oppostion as there is happiness.

Isaac Oommen seems to say it best;

On Friday (February 12) at 3 p.m., thousands of people from Vancouver and around the world will arrive at the downtown art gallery for a massive festival that will march to the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Although the city, Olympic organizers, and security officials will brand them as protesters or demonstrators, they will be there to celebrate their right to be active participants, not just of their respective cities and neighbourhoods but of the world.

The convergence welcoming the Olympic torch in this way is made up of a number of groups that stand for everything from free-speech rights to the abolition of racist immigration policies. One thing in which they are all unified is their basic human rights, including the rights of expression and assembly.

Views on the Olympics

Derrick O’Keefe: 1980 Summer Olympics boycott echoes today

Peter Hamilton: Don’t celebrate Olympics by donating goats for gold medals

Brad Cran: Why I have declined to participate in the Olympic Celebrations

David Suzuki: Going for the Olympic green medal

Cathy Wilander and Eric Doherty: Scrub the greenwash off the Freeway Olympics

Arthur Manuel: Vancouver Olympics can’t hide Canada’s dismal record on indigenous peoples

Martha J. Lewis: Impact of Olympics on Vancouver tenants less than feared

Marc Lee: First the Olympic party, next the hangover in B.C.

Deborah Folka: Who knew women couldn’t ski jump in the Winter Olympics?

Chris Shaw: Why resist the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver?

Am Johal: The 2010 Olympics have been an attack on civil society in Vancouver

Virginia Greene: 2010 Olympics will be biggest advertisement ever for B.C.

For years, the Olympics have branded those that have resisted this $6-billion showdown as being “anti-Olympics”. Very rarely do we hear about everything that the Olympics stand against. From a historical opposition to women’s rights in sport to today’s Orwellian surveillance state, the Olympics move in and oppose everything that we as responsible people of the world are trying to achieve.

At the end of the day, the Olympic industry—via the International Olympic Committee, Vanoc, and the plethora of alphabet agencies with which it partners—wishes to turn the people of this city, as well as every city left devastated in its wake, into mere hosts to drain dry, all under the guise of sport and nationalism.

Criticize the Olympics, and you will get from Vanoc the glib “Why do you hate amateur sports?” No one in this convergence hates sports. Most of us play a wide variety of sports, but do not mercilessly monetize it. Most of us cheer our local and international teams with all our lungs and souls.

What the people that will be converging stand against is not sports or even the Olympics as an idea, but the way in which the IOC and Vanoc have gone about their business, both historically and in Vancouver. The IOC has drained the municipal, provincial, and national treasury of money that should rightfully go to schools, libraries, hospitals, and a range of other more vital programs. All the while, Vanoc-endorsed politicians trumpeted lies that the residents of this town and province would not end up paying much for the Games. The result of this spectacle, we were told, will be the long-term benefit of investment in the city, since no one but the IOC will actually reap the money from ticket sales and corporate sponsorship.

It’s not just the matter of what Vanoc does but also the cloak-and-dagger way it goes about doing it. The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit has visited the residences, workplaces, families, and neighbours of dissenters in a blatant show of intimidation. Vanoc’s city-official friends enacted laws that tried to impinge dissent of any sort, whether it be signs in private homes decrying the Games or placards voicing protest against the IOC’s tactics.

The protest on February 12 will include people from all over Canada and the world that came to this city because they believe in democracy. What Vanoc and the IOC are perpetrating is the very definition of what Mussolini called fascism or corporatism—the merger of state and corporate power. It is the IOC that is anti-democratic. Everyone that stands against the Olympics is saying that they are a political participant and not a serf, and that they will not allow basic democratic rights to be destroyed so that the IOC can profit.

The Olympics may be here, but the people of this city are too and they will make their voices heard. They will also loudly tell other people of the world and Olympic host cities that we can together stop this behemoth from destroying entire cities under the obfuscation of “bringing the world together for sport”.

We will be paying for these games for decades. Apparently the amount of money that our province has spent is WELL over the advertised estimate.